Child Safety

* About 112,000 Rainforest Open Top Take-Along baby swings, imported by Fisher-Price, were recalled because a baby can shift to one side of the swing and get caught between the frame and seat. The company has received 60 reports of babies getting trapped, resulting in cuts, bumps, bruises and red marks. For more information, call (888) 303-5631 or go to www.service.mattel.com or www.cpsc.gov. * About 103,000 pieces of metal children's jewelry, distributed by Tween Brands Inc.

The head of Los Angeles County's foster care agency vowed on Tuesday to comply by June 30 with federal rules on monitoring the homes of foster children living with relatives, to solve a problem that has cost the county an estimated $6 million over the last year. Social workers are behind in conducting assessments and annual reassessments of about 3,200 homes to ensure that they meet health and safety requirements, said Patricia S.

Consultants hired by Consumer Reports to investigate how it botched a story about infant car seats concluded Tuesday that a major misunderstanding between the magazine and the lab that conducted the test resulted in the error. The findings of the test -- that most seats "failed disastrously" -- were withdrawn two weeks after their Jan. 4 publication when the magazine learned its side-impact tests had simulated speeds twice as fast as it reported.

Four months after the congressional page scandal rocked Capitol Hill and helped dash Republican hopes for holding their majorities in Congress, the House voted unanimously Friday to expand the board that oversees the teenage interns and require that it meet regularly. The House voted 416 to 0 to reorganize the House Page Board so that it has two congressional members from each party, the House clerk, the sergeant at arms, one parent of a page and one former page.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it has approved the first harness-type child safety device for sale to consumers for use on commercial airline flights. The CAReS device, produced by Phoenix-based AmSafe Aviation, involves a belt and shoulder harness that goes around the adult seat back and attaches to the adult passenger lap belt.

MySpace.com is planning new restrictions on how adults may contact its younger users in response to growing concerns about the safety of teenagers who frequent the popular social networking site. The site already prohibits children ages 13 and under from setting up accounts and displays only partial profiles for those registered as 14 or 15 years old unless the person viewing the profile is already on the teen's list of friends.

Sheriff Bob Doyle is expected to form a commission today to designate child safety zones to help implement Jessica's Law, a proposed November ballot initiative that would toughen penalties for sex offenders and keep them at least 2,000 feet from schools and parks. The group of local leaders will identify areas in Riverside County where children gather.

When pop star Britney Spears was caught on camera illegally holding her infant son in her lap while driving her SUV last week, her reckless faux pas likely did more to spotlight child safety than any politician or advocate could have dreamed. The Malibu incident and consequent public outcry over Spears' behavior surprised even seasoned auto safety advocates.

Britney Spears defended photographs showing the pop star driving with her 4-month-old son on her lap, saying she was dodging the paparazzi. Several photos published Tuesday showed Spears driving her SUV in Malibu with infant Sean Preston on her lap, rather than strapped into a car seat in the back. Spears said she did it because of a "horrifying, frightful encounter with the paparazzi." The agency that snapped the photos, X17, had a different account.

Children are no safer riding in sport utility vehicles than in passenger cars, largely because the doubled risk of rollovers in SUVs cancels out the safety advantages of their size and weight, according to a study released today. Researchers said the findings dispelled the bigger-equals-safer myth that helped fuel the growing popularity of SUVs among families. "We're not saying they're worse or that they're terrible vehicles.